JFK got the U.S into Vietnam (not Johnson)

[Joe Elliott]

It seems to me that JFK's support for the removal of Diem (and his brother) undercuts the allegation that he had decided by November to leave Vietnam, to withdraw US forces. If he made that decision then why deepen US involvement by supporting a coup? What was the purpose of a coup if the plan was to leave? As Reeves argues, supporting the Diem removal is akin to Colin Powell's observation about Iraq - "If you break it, you own it." If you remove the government, if you essentially "break it", then you have an obligation to put one back together. Or try to. Which is what LBJ tried to do afterwards.

Yes. The CT narrative does not make sense. Kennedy decides we have to give up on South Vietnam. That he needs to get all the troops out of there. But before he does that, he decides to support a coup. That makes no sense. If he thinks South Vietnam is doomed anyway, what’s the point of the coup? And when South Vietnam does fall, people will blame Kennedy saying it wouldn’t have happened but for the coup.

What does the coup buy him if he thinks we should get out of South Vietnam?

It seems to me that this whole narrative is just to support a notion that Moscow would fully support. That we have not lived in a true Democracy for almost 60 years. That just like Russia, the America is governed by a group that has never been elected.

[Jerry Freeman]

Blame it on Woodrow Wilson.

Wilson ignores petition by Ho Chi Minh for help in creating Vietnam independent from French rule and led by nationalist government.

Roosevelt declines repeated requests from the French to assist France's attempts to recolonize Vietnam.

To hell with the French.

Following the outbreak of the Korean War, Truman announces "acceleration in the furnishing of military assistance to the forces of France and the Associated States in Indochina...". and sends 123 non-combat troops to help with supplies to fight against the communist Viet Minh.

Postponing the inevitable.

1951 — Truman authorizes $150 million in French support.

Shoulda listened to FDR.

November 1, 1955 — President Eisenhower deploys the Military Assistance Advisory Group to train the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. This marks the official beginning of American involvement in the war as recognized by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Shoulda listened to FDR.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_in_the_Vietnam_War

[Richard Smith]

Where are the contrarians to jump in and tell us that any answer that they don't like is merely speculation?  Of course the answer to what might have happened had JFK not been assassinated is speculation.  What we do know is that JFK was susceptible to the same political pressures as LBJ to appear tough on Communism.  Perhaps as a second term President without the concerns for running for reelection in 1968, JFK may have not acted in exactly the same way as LBJ.  But it is difficult to envision JFK allowing S. Vietnam to be overrun by Commies on his watch.  So it's likely that the US would have maintained a military presence in S. Vietnam through the end of JFK's presidency and the next president (whether Nixon or LBJ) would have continued that process until it became completely untenable (i.e. after the loss of life and many years of war). It simply was not a feasible political option for any President in the 1960s to abandon S. Vietnam.

[Gerry Down]

So it's likely that the US would have maintained a military presence in S. Vietnam through the end of JFK's presidency and the next president (whether Nixon or LBJ) would have continued that process until it became completely untenable (i.e. after the loss of life and many years of war).

The next president could have been RFK. He would have been stuck with the problem.

[Gerry Down]

Where are the contrarians to jump in and tell us that any answer that they don't like is merely speculation?

Alot of people might not be familiar with the Vietnam war and how the US got into it. I'm one of these people. 

What are the most authoritative books on the Vietnam war (specifically on how we got into it)? I know of John Newmans JFK and Vietnam. What others are there (non JFK assassination related)?

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Alot of people might not be familiar with the Vietnam war and how the US got into it. I'm one of these people. 

What are the most authoritative books on the Vietnam war (specifically on how we got into it)? I know of John Newmans JFK and Vietnam. What others are there (non JFK assassination related)?

Stanley Karnow's history: https://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-History-Stanley-Karnow/dp/0140265473/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=stanley+karnow&qid=1615827214&s=books&sr=1-1

And his other works: https://www.amazon.com/Stanley-Karnow/e/B000AQ0432/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

He was on the ground reporting at the time of the first American soldier being killed until the very end. The entire time. As he admits though, he didn't have access to North Vietnamese archives or many sources. So he was limited in presenting "their side" of things. But that's true of every historian on the conflict.

One of the key points in this question of what JFK was going to do was that Khrushchev was removed from power in 1964. He had urged Hanoi to stop fighting and negotiate some sort of agreement. But his replacements - Brezhnev most notably - changed that policy and gave full support to the North. JFK would have to have faced that change.

[Gerry Down]

Stanley Karnow's history: https://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-History-Stanley-Karnow/dp/0140265473/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=stanley+karnow&qid=1615827214&s=books&sr=1-1

And his other works: https://www.amazon.com/Stanley-Karnow/e/B000AQ0432/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

He was on the ground reporting at the time of the first American soldier being killed until the very end. The entire time. As he admits though, he didn't have access to North Vietnamese archives or many sources. So he was limited in presenting "their side" of things. But that's true of every historian on the conflict.

Thanks.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Thanks.

And the Pentagon Papers (free) here: https://www.archives.gov/research/pentagon-papers

That's a history of US involvement up through 1967 1968. But it has great sections - very detailed - on the Kennedy's Administrations policies. What comes out at you reading the papers is how much the US thought China was behind the North's aggression. They really saw it as an attempt by Beijing to take over SE Asia.